‘Handful of protesters’ really the majority
The governor’s request for a $3.8 billion bond from
Toll Road suit plaintiffs states, “A handful of protesters must not be
permitted to derail .... Major Moves.” The label “A handful of
protesters” begs for a definition. Why don’t we review some well-known
and not so well-known facts about who a “handful” represents.
What is well known: Rep. Dick Dodge’s informal poll
from an area media outlet revealed that his constituents oppose the
lease 54 to 1; Rep. David Wolkins, R-Winona, voted against the lease
because 75 percent of his constituents oppose it; an Indianapolis Star
scientific poll with a 4.4 percent margin of error concluded that 60
percent of all Hoosiers statewide consider the lease “a bad deal”
versus 30 percent in support.
What is not so well known statewide is why some of
the plaintiffs — “the same people who have been fighting the I-69
project” according to a South Bend TV station — have sued.
The so-called “preferred” new terrain segment
between Evansville and Bloomington has a higher percentage of
opposition than the Toll Road. It was included as a “Top 10 Pork Barrel
Project” in 1995 by the Green Scissors Campaign by the fiscally
conservative National Taxpayers Union and Friends of the Earth. The new
terrain route was featured on both NBC’s “Fleecing of America” with Tom
Brokaw and ABC’s “It’s Your Money” with Peter Jennings as a huge waste
of taxpayer money.
The new terrain I-69 was opposed by 90 percent of
those who testified at the public hearings, 130,000 petitioners and
20,467 of 21,873 (94 percent) of Hoosiers who cared enough to submit
public comments. Most favor a “common sense” route that upgrades U.S.
41 between Evansville and Terre Haute and connects to I-70 to
Indianapolis — a mere 13-mile difference and at half the cost. The city
councils of Bloomington, Martinsville, Perry Township and Indianapolis
all formally oppose the new terrain route and/or the Toll Road concept.
A short litany of environmental, social, fiscal and
moral factors influencing vast opposition to a new terrain I-69
include: 3,000 acres more farmland paved under, 1,200 acres of forest
lost, and 200 family farms destroyed. A new terrain I-69 would dissect
both the Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge and Indiana’s second
largest Amish community (who twice petitioned to be spared this moral
travesty); and at a cost of $1 billion more to build and $2.7 million
more annual to maintain than the U.S. 41 upgrade route. This litany
barely scratches the surface of the great deception called new terrain
I-69.
If Govs. Bayh, O’Bannon, Kernan or Daniels had
listened to the vast majority of Hoosier taxpayers, I-69 would be
built, near completion or on schedule with little public opposition and
no talk of toll roads or foreign consortiums. Counties along U.S. 41 —
representing three of the five lowest in per capita income in Indiana —
would be served; 200 family farms saved; and 14 threatened or
endangered species including the Davies County Amish would be safer
from extirpation.
What is “handful”? What do we call Gov. Daniels and
the 6 percent of special interests (1,406 of 21,873 public comments)
who spent hundreds of thousands to arm-twist Major Moves through the
Statehouse and millions over more than a decade to undermine the will
of Indiana citizens.
Readers can find comprehensive documentation of the
politics behind the I-69 boondoggle by going online to Citizens for
Appropriate Rural Roads (CARR- carri69.org)
or COUNT US! (i69tour.org). If you
agree with the “handful of protesters,” you may go online to majormoves.org and contribute to
the lawsuit fund.
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